


Does Marco Polo Have Stockholm Syndrome?

by Tyranno



Category: Marco Polo (TV)
Genre: Essay, Meta, Stockholm Syndrome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 19:23:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7696339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyranno/pseuds/Tyranno
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone on the Marco Polo Kinkmeme asked if Marco had stockholm syndrome, so here is my expanded answer, looking at the symptoms and Marco's actions, and how they link together, if and when they do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Does Marco Polo Have Stockholm Syndrome?

**Author's Note:**

> [[original post]](https://marcopolokinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/521.html?thread=777#cmt777)
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> I am doing all of this from memory of the series, linked to a few articles about stockholm syndrome I have read online. I am by no means a psychology expert, so please tell me if I get anything wrong about the syndrome or, for that matter, about the show.

In episode one of Marco Polo, he is sold into service of the Khan by his father. This is a life-changing moment for Marco, who has blindly trusted his father for three years, suddenly to have the rug pulled out from under him, his emotional base rocked and, on top of that, to suddenly be in the service in an alien culture rife with danger, to the most powerful and dangerous man in the world. This is Marco at his most vulnerable, both inside and out, and at the most dangerous turning point of his life. But still, from this alone, it is not certain that he would have stockholm syndrome. In the wide spectrum of human mentalities, people can sometimes go through the most terrible events unscathed. It's rare, but it happens. Let's have a look at how many symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome Marco displays:

  * Positive feelings by the victim toward the abuser/controller ✓
  * Negative feelings by the victim toward family, friends, or authorities trying to rescue/support them or win their release ✓
  * Support of the abuser’s reasons and behaviors ✓
  * Positive feelings by the abuser toward the victim ✓
  * Supportive behaviors by the victim, at times helping the abuser ✓
  * Inability to engage in behaviors that may assist in their release or detachment ✓



Ah.

Some of these are, of course, special cases, for example; at times, even if marco did ride away he may still be captured and face worse punishment oh his return. His distrust of his father's attempts to 'rescue' him are also justified. But even to these the series has exceptions, many times Marco has opportunity to escape unscathed, yet he doesn't. He will never hear anything against the Khan. When Mei Lin tells him the little emperor will die at the hands of the Khan and he should escape instead Marco won't hear of it, he tells her the Khan is a good man, even though by that time Kublai has done some pretty terrible things.

In fact, Marco forgives Kublai for every heinous act the Khan commits, from killing prisoners to almost killing him. It doesn't take him that long to forgive him for killing the little emperor too. This is doubly important because religion was likely the only socialisation Marco had growing up as basically an orphan, and these are all considered sins--the worst thing a person can ever do. Marco even seems to forgive Empress Chabi for setting up the rape of the woman he loves. I mean there's sympathetic and forgiving and then there's the inexplicable behaviour of those severly traumatised.

There's also Marco's inability to explain why he doesn't just escape. There are many, many times in the show when he could simply take off and be long gone before the khan even notices. The _only_ concrete answer he ever gives is that Kokachin is part of the reason he stays and he never explains what the rest of it is. It's true that he'd run into some problems on the silk road, but never more than he was already dealing with in the Khanate. He faces basically no troubles pretending to be a poppy traider in season one.

According to [this site](http://counsellingresource.com/therapy/self-help/stockholm/2/), several things cause Stockholm Syndrome, including:

" **The Perceived threat to one's physical/psychological survival** : The perception of threat can be formed by direct, indirect, or witnessed methods. Criminal or antisocial partners can directly threaten your life or the life of friends and family. Their history of violence leads us to believe that the captor/controller will carry out the threat in a direct manner if we fail to comply with their demands. The abuser assures us that only our cooperation keeps our loved ones safe."

Mmm. Remind you of anyone?

Marco lives under constant threat of torture and excecution, not just to himself but also, at times, to Kokachin. He is forever fully aware of what will happen should he fall in the Khan's disfavour, and has seen it happen to the Khan's own brother and Ahmed, Sanga, the Child Emperor, hundreds of men on various battlefeilds, ect, ect...

" **The "Small Kindness" Perception** : In threatening and survival situations, we look for evidence of hope — a small sign that the situation may improve. When an abuser/controller shows the victim some small kindness, even though it is to the abuser’s benefit as well, the victim interprets that small kindness as a positive trait of the captor. In criminal/war hostage situations, letting the victim live is often enough. Small behaviors, such as allowing a bathroom visit or providing food/water, are enough to strengthen the Stockholm Syndrome in criminal hostage events."

While I doubt Kublai is deliberately abusing Marco, this also fits pretty neatly. When Marco's opinion of Kublai is at its lowest (surprisingly not when Marco was almost executed, but instead after the child emperor was murdered) Kublai takes Marco on a hiking trip and conscripts him into the Mongol Knights. While this _is_ a show of trust, it is also ultimately to Kublai's own advantage.

" **Isolation from Perspectives other than those of the captor** : In abusive and controlling relationships, the victim has the sense they are always “walking on eggshells” — fearful of saying or doing anything that might prompt a violent/intimidating outburst. For their survival, they begin to see the world through the abuser’s perspective."

Marco _does_ fear Kublai's anger, and he takes measures to prevent himself from saying something that might incite it. In episode three of season one, when asked if anyone talked rudely about Jingim at the party, Marco tells Kublai nobody said anything distasteful because he thinks that's what Kublai wanted to hear. Kublai savagely beats a servant to death in front of him, to show him to consequence of his lies.

And again, his conversation with Mei Lin about the Child Emperor's fate comes to mind. Every time Marco is faced with an alternate perspective on the Khan or his Khanate--the drowned bodies in the lake, his father's words about christianity--even when Kokachin is wishing her children's father were Marco and that they should escape together, Marco tries to convince her to be happy with Jingim. When his father comes back to him he remarks that Marco is dressing more and more like a Mongol. While this remark is catty at best, it rings at least a little true. Marco retains barely any of his christian upbringing--he is never seen going to church, he pretty much throws "thou shall not kill" and especially "thou shall not covet your neighbor’s wife" out of the window. He works on the sabbath, he has extramarital sex. When asked about his cross, he simply says "it is a gift," which is apparently all it means to him.

" **Perceived Inability to escape** : As a hostage in a bank robbery, threatened by criminals with guns, it’s easy to understand the perceived inability to escape. In romantic relationships, the belief that one can’t escape is also very common. Many abusive/controlling relationships feel like till-death-do-us-part relationships — locked together by mutual financial issues/assets, mutual intimate knowledge, or legal situations. In romantic relationships, the belief that one can’t escape is also very common. Many abusive/controlling relationships feel like till-death-do-us-part relationships — locked together by mutual financial issues/assets, mutual intimate knowledge, or legal situations."

I have touched on this already, so I won't go into it much, but again this is spot on. Marco continues to invent reasons to return to the Khanate, from the distance he must travel, to a vague notion of saving Kokachin, to a irrational need to protect an empire that has done nothing for him. If, during the season 2 finale, Marco never saw Pastor John's men, I have no doubt he would have thought of another reason to return.

I do doubt Kublai deliberately manipulated Marco to the point where he developed Stockholm Sydrome; an abuser abuses because of a personality disorder, because the way they see the world is warped, so if Kublai were a typical abuser he would have already been abusing his son and his wife for years before Marco came.

However, the syndrome explains the holes in Marco's character. He owes the Khan nothing, and yet does everything in his power to uphold him and secure his position, even while, again, the Khan does so much that Marco would otherwise condemn. Marco constantly goes above and beyond his duties, viewing other members of the court with suspicion and trying his hardest to protect Kublai, even when he hasn't been asked to. It does seem like he is trying to do everything he can to appease the Khan which he knows, subconciously, will protect himself.

This would usually be the part where I offered an alternative view but... I mean I _could_ say that maybe the writers didn't mean for him to fall so squarely into a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome, but with the constant unanswered questions about his actions from the other characters, Marco's constant insistance that his Khan is a good man even though he is continuously proven wrong... it's pretty clear it crossed somebody's mind more than once. So yes, with pretty much 99% certainty, Marco has some form of Stockholm Syndrome.


End file.
